Southampton routs Parrott

By Bryan C. Hanks / Editor

Published: Saturday, September 21, 2013 at 12:19 AM.

In an odd statistical anomaly, because of the running clock in the second half, Parrott didn’t have an offensive snap in the fourth quarter. Southampton kept the ball for 14 snaps, including the final two kneel-downs by Raiders backup quarterback Andrew Lowe.

“We have a talented group this year; we throw the ball long and we throw it short,” Marks said of his Raiders. “When you have speed like we do in the 8-man game, you’re going to be tough.”

Parrott, which entertains Lasker Northeast Academy next week, had 126 yards of offense. Quinn caught all four of Huddle’s completions for 83 yards and Parrott’s only score, a 55-yard strike with 1:21 remaining in the third quarter. Howard led the Patriots in rushing with 54 yards on 18 carries.

APA also had four lost fumbles and an interception on its ledger, too — something Beaman said his Patriots can’t do if they hope to make a deep playoff run.

“We have nine or 10 seniors, but our key players are all young,” Beaman said. “This is the first time a lot of them have been punched in the mouth. There for a little while, they were really shocked and they didn’t know how to respond. I thought they did a better job of gathering themselves and playing hard.

“We’re just going to put this loss behind us because we have a big game next week. We’ll go on from there and try to get better.”

In a matchup of unbeaten teams in a battle for first place in the NCISAA 8-man standings, the defending state champions showed they’re ready for a run at another title.

Southampton, Va., Academy scored on six of its first seven possessions on its way to a 50-7 rout of Arendell Parrott at Hodges Field Friday night. The Raiders (4-0) led 30-0 at the end of the first quarter, 42-0 at halftime and pushed ahead 50-0 only 93 seconds into the third quarter to trigger a running clock the remainder of the game.

“We hit some things early, got some turnovers and it got away from (Parrott) early,” said veteran Southampton coach Dale Marks, who has led the Raiders to three state titles. “(Parrott) is a lot better team than the score indicated tonight. They have a lot of pride here and some real physical ballplayers.”

It was an humbling loss for a Parrott squad that entered the game with a 3-0 record and was coming off a huge win at nemesis Raleigh Word of God a week before.

“They’re a better team than us right now, there’s no doubt,” APA coach Matt Beaman said of Southampton. “I told the guys we were going to have to play perfect to beat them, and we were far from perfect tonight.”

The Raiders jumped ahead 14-0 on a pair of Tonee Hill rushing touchdowns halfway through the first quarter. Parrott (3-1) picked up its initial first down of the game after short runs by junior running back Chase Howard, sophomore running back Davis Basden and junior quarterback Jack Huddle and faced second and 6 from their own 27.

Howard then took a pitch from Huddle and, instead of running the ball, lofted a perfect pass to senior wide receiver Caleb Quinn, who found himself behind the Southampton defense for what appeared to be a 73-yard touchdown catch and a 14-6 deficit.

Not so fast, though: a holding penalty brought the play back and backed the Patriots up to their own 17. A punt three plays later ended Parrott’s best drive of the first half.

Parrott didn’t give up after the punt, though; the Patriots defense forced a fumble from Raiders quarterback Matt Rose on a poorly-thrown lateral attempt. Additionally, the ball was kicked in a scramble for the fumble recovery and Parrott found itself in business at the Southampton 43.

The optimism didn’t last long. Huddle fumbled on the first play from scrimmage to give the ball right back to the Raiders. It only took Southampton one play to convert the turnover into a touchdown when Hill hauled in a 49-yard touchdown pass from Rose for a 22-0 lead. Southampton successfully converted an onside kick and two plays later, Rose streaked 33 yards for a 30-0 lead with 1:05 left in the first quarter.

The holding penalty, the lost fumble and the inability to recover the onside kick turned a 14-0 game to 30-0 in eight plays, a fact that wasn’t lost on Beaman.

“We felt like if we ran that halfback pass, we should be able to score on it — and we did,” Beaman said. “It should’ve been, at the worst, 14-6 there. Then they cough it up on the lateral and we’re at their 40; we could’ve had a 14-14 ballgame.

“Momentum is a big thing, especially with high school kids. After those plays, we were just never able to get back that momentum.”

Southampton, which hosts Hobgood Academy (4-0) next week, finished with 406 yards of offense. The Raiders rolled up 302 yards on the ground, led by 96 yards and three scores on seven carries by Rose. The junior signal-caller also connected on four of six passes for 88 yards and another touchdown. Hill carried the ball seven times for 51 yards and two scores and had one catch for 49 yards and another score.

In an odd statistical anomaly, because of the running clock in the second half, Parrott didn’t have an offensive snap in the fourth quarter. Southampton kept the ball for 14 snaps, including the final two kneel-downs by Raiders backup quarterback Andrew Lowe.

“We have a talented group this year; we throw the ball long and we throw it short,” Marks said of his Raiders. “When you have speed like we do in the 8-man game, you’re going to be tough.”

Parrott, which entertains Lasker Northeast Academy next week, had 126 yards of offense. Quinn caught all four of Huddle’s completions for 83 yards and Parrott’s only score, a 55-yard strike with 1:21 remaining in the third quarter. Howard led the Patriots in rushing with 54 yards on 18 carries.

APA also had four lost fumbles and an interception on its ledger, too — something Beaman said his Patriots can’t do if they hope to make a deep playoff run.

“We have nine or 10 seniors, but our key players are all young,” Beaman said. “This is the first time a lot of them have been punched in the mouth. There for a little while, they were really shocked and they didn’t know how to respond. I thought they did a better job of gathering themselves and playing hard.

“We’re just going to put this loss behind us because we have a big game next week. We’ll go on from there and try to get better.”

Bryan C. Hanks can be reached at 252-559-1074 or at Bryan.Hanks@Kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter at @BCHanks.